The Hanging Tree
by xCaptainBlaze
Summary: A one-shot based around the song "The Hanging Tree" from The Hunger Games.


The Hanging Tree

"Run, Lily! Just run!" yelled Jacob, flying through the underbrush of the forest. Behind him, a young woman with dark auburn hair followed him closely, panting too hard to reply. Around them, the trees were being demolished by tirades of flames, shot from the hovercraft behind them. A tree exploded in a flurry of white flickering fire and fell into their path, blocking it with a white-hot barrier of death. In the moment they paused, a squad of Peacekeepers flooded in from all sides. They were surrounded.

The Peacekeepers started to move in, trapping them. Jacob spotted an opening and pointed it out to Lily. She nodded and they ran towards it. Jacob was almost to the opening when a hand grabbed his arm and pulled him backwards. He spun around to face his assailant and was faced with Lily. She shoved him towards the Peacekeepers and raced like a deer for the gap. She leapt through and disappeared into the trees.

Peacekeepers grabbed Jacob's arms, pinning them behind him. Helpless, he watched as some of the Peacekeepers searched for her, but to no avail. One of the Peacekeepers talked into a cuff on his wrist, and then turned to one of his comrades.

"They want the girl, not him," he said. "Execute him and we can go searching for her." The man nodded and tied Jacob's hands behind his back. He shoved Jacob towards a nearby tree, a sturdy willow with long tresses of leaves that brushed against him as he was walked through to the trunk. The Peacekeeper fashioned a noose, tying it securely to one of the tree's boughs. Jacob struggled and fought, but his hands were tied too tightly to release. The Peacekeeper pushed him onto a tree stump and fastened the noose to his neck, then shoved Jacob off the stump, suspending him in mid-air. He walked away, ignoring the pained choking coming from behind him.

Lily slipped into the pool silently, trying to make as few ripples as possible. She swam down, tangling herself in the green weeds, just as Peacekeepers burst into the clearing. She listened to the muted sounds of them searching for her, saw the dark outline of one peering into the pool, but the Katniss stems gathered around her camouflaged her and he didn't spot her. When the clearing fell silent, she batted away the reeds and burst out of the water, gasping for air.  
The day had tired her, and she could hardly stand, she was so tired. She simply collapsed by the bank of the pool. Lily was about to fall asleep when she felt someone gently touch her neck.

She jumped almost out of her skin at the sudden contact, her green eyes flying open and her fist lashing out at the person. A strong hand gripped her wrist, but it felt strange. Soft, with a hard core, like bone wrapped in foam. Her eyes focused.  
"J-J-Jacob?" she stuttered in shock. "Didn't... didn't they catch you?"

"I have escaped from them. Come with me. You won't ever be hunted again," said Jacob fondly. "I forgive you for leaving me. Are you coming to the tree?"  
"How did you escape? Did they –" Lily's voice was cut off by a gentle shushing from Jacob. "Don't worry about that. Let's get you sorted out. We can be together, forever, as soon as we sort you out." His soothing tone was hypnotising and Lily found herself falling under his spell. She closed her eyes and felt his hands gently caressing her neck. He placed something around it, thin and long, and tied it behind her neck, softly placing her hair over it.

"There, a beautiful necklace," he said, satisfaction in his voice. "A perfect fit." His grey eyes locked onto her misty, distant ones. "We should go – the Peacekeepers will be here soon."  
Something felt wrong. Lily knew, innately knew, something was not right in this scene. But something was stopping her from figuring out what it was, replacing curiosity or fear with simple complacency. She stood, hardly aware of what she was doing, and followed Jacob. That was right. She knew that was right. She had to follow him. Just follow him, and everything else would work itself out.

As if in a daze, they walked together through the trees, the forest eerily silent around them. A little niggling doubt tugged at Lily's mind, but she pushed it away. Follow Jacob. Just follow Jacob. They emerged in a clearing, with a single willow tree growing in the centre. Its beauty captured Lily like nothing else, and she walked forward to touch it, mouth open in amazement. As her hand connected with the wood of the trunk, images flashed into her mind. A white-uniformed Peacekeeper with a familiar prisoner. The coarse woven rope of the hangman's noose. Brown eyes rolling wildly as hands tugged at the tight noose around the neck. Lily let go of the bark and fell to the ground, squeezing her eyes shut in an attempt to block out the thoughts. Suddenly, they sprung open with such force they watered. The mistiness of her mind abruptly disappeared, leaving her in full control of herself and with no doubt of what the problem was.

Jacob's eyes were not grey.  
They were brown.

A creaking noise above her made her head snap up to look at it. Screaming in horror, she ran out from under the silky leaves of the willow, terrified by the sight of the slowly swinging body suspended by a rope around the neck, the head tilted at an unnatural angle, the body limp and seemingly fractured – straight into the arms of Jacob. She staggered away from him.

"What's wrong, my sweet?" he asked her. His grey eyes searched her face, trying to lock onto hers. Temptation kicked in. She longed to look into those eyes. But something inside screamed for her not to look at them, and she resisted admirably.  
"You aren't Jacob!" she cried. "Get away from me!" She turned and raced for the trees. Jacob just stood there, staring up into the willow branches.  
She ran blindly, not caring where she was going, just longing to get out of the forest as quickly as possible. She reached another clearing and glanced around, looking for the clearest route. A faint voice echoed across the grass.

"Lily," the disembodied voice said. "Come and join me. You don't need to run anymore."  
She shrieked and ran into the forest, forgetting all about picking the most logical path and simply running down the closest one. She swerved wildly, dodging trees and branches that came out of nowhere. She skidded to a halt to avoid smacking into a massive tree, and then skirted the edge – straight into Jacob, waiting for her on the other side. He held her still, though she struggled as best she could. Tilting her head up towards him, he leant in to kiss her. As their eyes locked, her struggles ceased and she melted into his embrace. She heard the faint sound of singing, a man's voice, soft and sweet.

_"Are you, are you, coming to the tree..."_

He led the girl back to the willow.

_"Where I told you to run, so we'd both be free..." _

Fastening the necklace he had made of his own noose rope to the tree, he stood her gently on the tree stump.

_"Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be..."_

He took her hand and, with a gentle squeeze, she jumped.

_"If we met up at midnight, in the Hanging Tree." _

As soon as he let go, Lily snapped back into reality. She tore at the noose around her neck with both hands, bloodying them and tearing her nails, but the noose didn't give way. Through a red haze, she heard Jacob's voice.  
"Now we can both be free," he said quietly. Blackness swallowed her, and just as she passed she heard the faint sound of a man singing softly in a sweet, melodic voice.

_"Are you, are you, coming to the tree  
Wear a necklace of rope, side by side with me  
Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be  
If we met up at midnight, in the Hanging Tree."_

Ten years later, a girl with auburn hair and soft green eyes strolled through the forest. It was so tranquil. She made a mental note to talk to her fiancé about walking together – this place was the perfect romantic getaway. So much better than the city.  
She spotted a young man standing propped against a tree. He appeared to be waiting for someone. He looked up and caught her eye, his grey ones locking onto hers. Her lips parted slightly in adoration and all thoughts of her fiancé vanished. He was nothing compared to this man! He approached her, smiling shyly, and the girl heard the ethereal sound of a man's voice singing in a beautiful tenor voice.

_"Are you, are you, coming to the tree  
Where I told you to run, so we'd both be free  
Strange things did happen here, no stranger would it be  
If we met up at midnight, in the Hanging Tree." _


End file.
